Surfin’ for the dream

There was a time when I fancied myself quite the poet. I pored my young heart out on paper and dreamed big dreams of writing fabulous greeting cards (yes –greeting cards, which is funny to anyone who knows me because I usually refuse to give greeting cards because I think they’re a bit of a waste of paper and usually are altogether too silly or sappy for my tastes – although I do sometimes send e-cards to my friends with big talent who write fabulous books - see http://www.savingtheworldinsensibleshoes.blogspot.com/ - but I digress). Of course, MY greeting cards would capture what people really wished to express and would grant me some high profile award someday.

So, when stymied over what to try next to help out our “single income but spending for double life” path, a friend told me about a work-from-home website that wasn’t a scam to check out (see end of email for what pathetic little I’ve learned about flexible work-from-home plans).

On http://www.homejobstop.com/ there were two greeting card companies looking for poems or similar content and paying a reasonable amount for them to boot. I was so excited! Maybe this was what was meant to happen. I would fulfill my greeting card dreams and show my kids mama has a talent of some sort aside from corralling them out the door in time for school, baking mini muffins and backyard science.

I pulled my best stuff out of storage and submitted it right away. Sadly I haven’t heard a word since. Apparently if you don’t hear back within 2 months, they don’t share your enthusiasm for your work. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit crushed.

It did get me motivated though. Afterall, I do have some skills of note. I was marketing professional for close to 15 years and somebody out there was bound to need what I could offer, wouldn’t they? I started to contact recruiters who told me I was really dreaming if I wanted to find part-time, work-from-home flex-work. Personally I feel this is a terrible oversight on the part of many businesses who need the skill set, but can’t afford a full-time marketing person.

A couple of weeks later I saw as close to my dream job as I could possibly get posted on http://www.craigslist.com/. It was a part-time/flex-time marketing position for a growing company that needed the know-how to cover a variety of marketing roles 2 days a week.

It would have required a little more rigidity of schedule than the perfect scenario, but to be able to do what I am skilled in, love to do and be paid respectably to do it without it taking over our lives…would have been so great. By the time I saw the ad and sent in my resume, there had already been over 300 responses to the ad from what the recruiter in charge said all appeared to all be qualified people. The recruiter also told me that the company had already offered the job to someone they had had recommended to them….sob.

So…this perfect scenario isn’t going to land in my lap. If I want to work in my former profession, I have a lot of pre work to do. Loads of networking, lots of checking on job sites and some way to increase my visibility will be required. That’s part of my reason to start a blog. I also hope maybe I’ll help someone else along the way….pass along a germ of an idea to start someone down the path to success? Or at least be a reasonable read.


So, here’s a few things I learned from 100’s of hours searching for a work from home opportunity that wouldn't compromise my family too much:
1) If you have to pay to sign up to receive the benefits of the service, there’s often a catch. It’s not always the case, but you really have to do your research on each service before signing up – I always do an internet search on the service name to see if any angry posts pop up from people who’ve wasted time or money on them. If no one is angry, I feel more confident proceeding
2) Recruitment offices are a reasonable place to start your search for work-from-home opportunities. If you’re skilled for simple clerical, data entry, assembly or accounting, you may find the flexible opportunity you’re looking for through them without having to worry about the scammers. One great one for marketers is http://www.marketersondemand.com/.
3) Professional opportunities from home are few and far between unless you have an already established network to offer your services to and have the opportunity to network for more. Websites like http://www.linkedin.com/ can help you find out where some of your former colleagues are now working. There are also lots of networking groups popping up. A few I’ve found through my fabulous stay-at-home friend on the west coast (see http://tjrramblings.blogspot.com/ ) include:
http://www.momcafe.net/Home
http://www.themomoirproject.com/?p=382
http://theleagueofkickassbusinesspeople.ning.com/